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Filmmaker and cameraman released after being held for 54 days

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(RSF/IFEX) - On 10 July 2005, the United States (US) army freed Cyrus Kar, an American documentary filmmaker of Iranian origin, and Farshid Faraji, his Iranian cameraman, after holding them for 54 days at a US base in Iraq.

Kar entered Iraq from Iran to film material for a documentary about Darius the Great, founder of the Persian Empire. He and Faraji were arrested on 19 May near Balad (70 km north of Baghdad) by the Iraqi army, who handed them over to the coalition forces. The US army then asked the FBI to investigate them. The FBI finally reported on 4 July that it had no files on the two men.

Through this report the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) aims to highlight cases of ongoing killings, attacks and threats against journalists and other media workers in four countries, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and makes recommendations to enhance their protection using international mechanisms including the United Nations system.

Iraq had one of the highest murder rates for journalists in the world. Among those killed were Thaer al-Ali, editor in chief of the Mosul newspaper Rai al-Nas, and Jalaa al-Abadi, a cameraman for the Nineveh Reports’ Network.

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